Honorary award for champion of the vulnerable and disadvantaged

Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE received the award of Honorary Doctorate of the University for services to social work

ONE of the most influential figures in the field of UK social work – whose early career included an important role advising South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement – has urged University of Huddersfield graduates to make career choices that will help bring about social justice.

David Croisdale-Appleby OBE, whose portfolio of academic distinctions includes a Visiting Professorship at Huddersfield, was speaking after he had received an Honorary Doctorate, bestowed during one of the 17 awards ceremonies taking place during the week.

“You are highly likely to have fulfilling careers, for that is what this splendid university equips you with, the ability to do,” he told an audience consisting of large numbers of new graduates in social science subjects.

They all had an enormous opportunity to bring about change in economic well-being, in social justice, and in the lives of disadvantaged people, continued Professor Croisdale-Appleby.

“Be prepared to be defined by the choices that you make,” he added, and in his acceptance speech he cited examples of figures who had made choices that brought about important social changes, such as South African president F.W. de Klerk, who – despite having been an upholder of racial segregation – announced the end of apartheid and freed Nelson Mandela.

An oration outlining Professor Croisdale-Appleby’s life had told how, having become a globally successful advertising executive in his twenties, he had helped develop the election strategy of South Africa’s anti-apartheid Progressive Federal Party.  His hard-hitting communications campaigns included drawing world attention to the death of anti-apartheid campaigner Steve Biko and he was himself interrogated by the regime.

The Dean of the University of Huddersfield’s School of Human and Health Sciences, Professor Paul Bissell, delivered the oration and described Professor Croisdale-Appleby’s career, telling how in 1996 he had left his international leadership roles in marketing and communications in order to commit himself entirely to public service and philanthropy.

Among his achievements was a major review of social work education that included recommendations accepted by the Government.  He has also been an important figure in medical and clinical education and was called in by the trustees to save from closure Dementia UK, which provides specialist nurses and a hotline for the carers and families of those with dementia. 

“He took over as the Executive Chair and led the charity through a major financial and operational restructuring to make it a sustainable and a growing force in this crucially-important area of society,” said Professor Bissell.  This was “a work of transformational genius” which contributed to Professor Croisdale-Appleby’s recognition by the Sunday Times as Non-Executive Director of the Year in 2016.